Advanced medical imaging processing software allows a user to transform scan images, such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonant imaging (MRI), Ultrasound, X-ray, etc. images, into three-dimensional (3D) images as well as other views which help the user interpret the scans. Organs and/or body parts can be isolated, removed, measured, analyzed, viewed, sliced, as well as viewed from any angle, including the interior. For example, cardiac arteries can be measured, analyzed, stenosis identified and measured, and viewed from virtually any perspective. The colon can be analyzed for polyps and “flown” through to evaluate its health. Tumors can be identified and measured, and monitored over time.
However, advanced medical imaging processing software is difficult and labor intensive to use. Generally, the user must be trained to use the specific software, and to perform the specific processing functions. The processing functions often require the use of software tools, a pointing device, such as a mouse, and multiple clicks of the mouse to get the desired results. For example, identifying and measuring a stenosis in a cardiac artery may involve several “click intensive” steps, including bone removal, fragment cleanup, vessel identification, vessel segmentation, stenosis identification, stenosis measurements etc.
A physician may want to perform advanced medical imaging processing in a sterile environment, such as the operating room. For example, a brain surgeon may want to identify the location, size, and other parameters of a brain tumor, and have it on a screen during surgery. He/she may also want to identify the location and size/types of nearby and/or related vasculature. He/she may also want to identify the best entry points of the skull.
In another example, a cardiologist may want to review the cardiovascular vascular before and/or during an angioplasty. He/she may want to see the curvature of the cardiovascular vascular, as well as the aortic access path. He/she may want to see the smoothness/roughness of the stenosis, and/or the degree of stenosis to help choose a catheter/guidewire/stent etc. If the procedure is not going as planned, different views and/or analyses of the anatomy may help in determining options.
However, with current advanced medical imaging processing software, the physician cannot easily, while maintaining sterility, use this type of software. It is currently cumbersome, time consuming, and risky, sterility-wise, for a physician to use such software in a sterile environment, especially with a patient on the table. There is a need for a physician and/or technician in a sterile environment, to easily, quickly, safely and accurately, obtain results from advanced medical image processing software, while maintaining the sterile environment.